The Golden Compass has just had its world première in London, with the two main stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in attendance. It at this point, with just over a week until it gets its official release, that the religious groups efforts to get the film banned or boycotted will go fully in to overdrive.
His Dark Materials, the trilogy of books of which The Golden Compass is the first to get the movie treatment, have already caused controversy over their supposed anti-catholic viewpoint, and with movies causing much more publicity than books (excepting maybe the Harry Potter series), the controversy has only risen.
New Line Cinema wisely (although unjustifiably in some fans opinions) chose to slightly alter the gearing of the films to include less mentions of the catholic church, and changing the themes discussed to more euphemistic terms used to describe all manner of different dogmatic organizations instead.
The biggest critics of the forthcoming film has been the U.S. based Catholic League, which has called Phillip Pullman “a noted English atheist” and insisted on their site “”It is his objective to bash Christianity and promote atheism. To kids.”
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, told Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm:
“They want to make money. They want to make sure there’s a second and third movie based on the books in the trilogy. This teaches atheism to kids. Phillip Pullman is very open about this. The movie is basically innocuous, but parents may want to say to their kids, ‘You know what? A great Christmas present would be to buy his ‘Dark Trilogy,’ the name of the three books.’ Now you’ve introduced your kids to atheism. I don’t think most parents want to do that.”
Why not? Surely kids should be taught a fair and balanced view of life, rather than being brainwashed to believe exactly what their parents just happen to have been brought up to believe.
As a massive fan of the books, and not a very big fan of organised religion, I can’t begin to state how disgusting I find these complaints.
Firstly, what are Christians frightened of? The books, and atheism in general, is just another viewpoint, and belief system, with people who firmly believe it, and others who refute it entirely. Surely that is no different than any religion?
I would have thought parents who are bringing their kids up to believe one thing, would be secure enough that they are right in what they are doing and believe, that they wouldn’t fear a book or movie being able to influence their children enough to follow another path.
Also, wouldn’t you want your kids to know about alternative viewpoints? It’s your right to bring your kids up however you want, but for their sake, and society’s, at least teach them other views exist, and don’t keep them in a bubble until they’re eighteen and have to find out the hard way.
My last point is that why have it banned? I personally do not watch any of the numerous Christian channels on cable television these days, because it’s not my thing. They pump out their very narrow beliefs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but it has never crossed my mind to campaign to have them banned. I just switch off, and in this case, surely you could just skip going to the cinema this week?
I’ll be going to see The Golden Compass, and I’d urge anyone who enjoys it, to search out and buy the books also. They won’t change anyone’s mind on anything, but they teach you another way of looking at the world, and also open up a debate which we are all in sore need of having: how much power should the church and religions have over politics, and the world at large?
“Why not? Surely kids should be taught a fair and balanced view of life, rather than being brainwashed to believe exactly what their parents just happen to have been brought up to believe.”
It’s the perogative of any parent to bring their children up with a certain set of beliefs. I agree that children should be taught a balanced view of life but the truth is, that’s not the way it works. If you have children or plan on it, no matter what you do, you’re core beliefs and values are going to be passed on to them. If you are naturally disdainful of any and all religion, I think you would have a hard time being “fair and balanced.”
I’m not personally overly religious and I loved the Pullman books, but when I read them at the time they were released I kept thinking “these are good books” but if parents find out what the themes and subject matter are–especially those of the last book–they’re going to have a problem with this book.
As most “famous” people say, “any publicity is good publicity” the efforts of this “family” oriented group are just going to make the movie seem a lot more appealing to a large segment of the population who might not have had any interest to begin with.
You’ve taken a position and your views and leanings are perfectly clear, but I don’t know that they are “fair and balanced.” Who is it that says that all the time??…….
As far as atheism being just another valid viewpoint… in my experience people who are enthusiastic about being atheist (as opposed to just being non-religious) are always the same people who love fidel castro and were sad the day the soviet union collapsed. It always seems those things go hand in hand… and they go hand in hand with one other thing… genocide.
Say what you want about religion but only socialist/atheist governments have murdered tens of millions of people within the last century.
I’m an agnostic, but I’d much rather live in a Christian-based society than a socialist/atheist one. You can make anti-christian propaganda movies in a Christian society and have no worries, but if you had tried to make an anti-socialist movie in the soviet union you would have gone to a death camp. That’s the difference. Try teaching your kid about that.
“Say what you want about religion but only socialist/atheist governments have murdered tens of millions of people within the last century.”
Why are you ignoring genocides which occurred earlier than this? Might it be be because there are genocides in the Old Testament, justified by God? Anyways, the opposite of a christian society isn’t necessarily a communist one.
It is a proven fact that the worst genocides in history are caused by lunatics and/or very religious people. Religion is the plague of mankind and main cause for every single war in human history… the second cause is money…
I have to laugh that he thinks this is will “introduce kids to athiesm”, because it’s not like there are actual human beings out there that they interact with daily that perhaps are athiests themselves. Oh no, only a book could introduce them to it. LOL
I was raised Catholic, but for various reasons have veared away from it, and I can tell you that it wasn’t a children’s book that pushed me over the edge.
First off, one of the big problems I have with the earlier posting comparing “Catholic” and “Communist” is the fact that one is a religion and one is a form of government. Last time I checked…the two were seperate, and best kept that way. It’s when leaders confuse the roles of politician and priest that some of the worst attrocities in the world have happened. And yes, some have indeed occurred in THIS century.
The only difference between “genocide” and “cleansing” is that one is sanctioned by god.
What we see now is that children aren’t being brought up to respect others or to explore and expand. They have such wonderful minds that need to be filled with possibility and not kept buffered from things that unnerve their parents. Like it was said, “What are you afraid of?”. If nothing else the film and books will spark conversation, learning and bonding, and THAT is the best thing that any parent (Catholic or otherwise) could ask.
I am currently reading the Golden Compass simply because I never take anyones word at face value. I am a Christian and have heard about the atheistic themes of the book/movie. I have never, nor will I ever condone the banning of books or literature or any other means of self expression. However, I do condone common sense. If you feel like the views expressed in a piece of literature is not right for your children, then it is your responsibility to monitor what it is that they are reading/watching. That, however, comes with a caveat. There comes a time when they have to make up their own minds. I don’t feel that I should tell a 16 year old kid that he or she can or can not read a book or watch a movie based solely on political or religious views. Unfortunately some of my overzealous brothers and sisters get a little carried away. Just like it is our right to preach the word of God from the highest mountain top, it is your right to say He does not exist. To say that atheists are all a bunch of communist sympathizers is WAY to far of a stretch. I know that atrocities have been committed in the name of the church and other religions as well. Whether it’s the crusades, or the next jihad, some terrible things have been done in the name of religion. The bottom line is that even though the religion was used as a cover, it always had a much larger political endeavor. Religion has been generally used as a scapegoat to get the masses to agree to some of the most heinous of crimes against humanity. The true heroes of religion and more specifically Christianity, have been the ones who realized the error of those ways and stuck to the core message and lived lives of servitude.
well im not religous in any way, i believe in nothing, (so at least i wont start any wars), if the christian lot want to ban this film then i say ban christianity, ban preaching about the fictitious ***, the film is pure fiction so is christanity, catholic, and all the rest of it, i am so tired of hearing about wars and fighting, thats that off my chest, this film is one of the best films i have seen in a long time, it brings out the inner child in me yerning for a good adventure, they better make a sequel or i might boycott newline cinema lol
Never read the books…..Loved the movie. I was not awaire of the religious rights uproar about the story, although I did remember that there was something going on in reference to its theatrical release. In my mind, while watching the movie, I was equating the Magisterium to the Vatican. How funny. They obviously did too. Sometimes we don’t like what we see in the mirror……..and then we blame the mirror. Is anyone surprised?
People don’t seem to realize that even major Christian leaders are fans of the series.
Either way, the books really are an attack on many Christian views, but they don’t necessarily aim to create anti-religious or atheistic readers. The goal is more to allow people to see a different side and hopefully make their own choices.
With that being said, I was thoroughly disappointed that this movie was essentially censored, removing a lot of the ideology that made the book great.
I want all of you Catholics to understand one thing.. have you watched the news? Do you see all the stories about Catholic priests sexually abusing little boys? I guess you aren’t too upset about that, but you will boycott a fictional fantasy movie. How retarded is that? get your heads out of your butts the Catholic Church has murdered thousands of people in the past for not following their way of thinking. Check the history channel. It’s absurd to think that no one has the balls to admit or comment on that fact. The Catholic church has one aim in my opinion and that is to bilk hard working families out of their money and have more power than the government. Clean up your own houses before you cast judgment on others for their actions.